Gov. Sandoval vetoes redistricting bill

May 14, 2011

Gov. Brian Sandoval / Tim Dunn/RGJ file

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AP AND STAFF REPORTS

Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed a redistricting bill Saturday that was zipped through the Nevada Legislature by Democratic lawmakers, accusing the majority party of seeking political gain and violating the Voting Rights Act.

“This plan ensures partisan opportunity rather than fair representation of all Nevadans,“ the Republican governor said in a two-page veto message that touched off a volley of partisan snapping. “Partisan gerrymandering is not legal, equitable or acceptable.“

Sandoval, the first Hispanic to move into the Silver State’s Governor’s Mansion, said the maps drawn by Democrats dilute the power of minority voters. Hispanics make up about a quarter of the state’s population.

“In the last 10 years, the Hispanic community in our state has grown significantly,“ Sandoval said. “The law and common sense requires that we recognize this fact and afford Hispanics an equal opportunity to election representatives of their choosing.“ Democrats hold slim majorities in both the Assembly and Senate but lack the votes necessary to override Sandoval’s veto.

Democratic leadership on Saturday called the governor’s veto “an overt act of partisanship designed to appease his Republican base.“

“The Republican Party’s record on Hispanic issues borders between ambivalent and atrocious, so their sudden interest in taking up the mantle of minority voting rights must be examined,“ Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas and chairman of the Senate Hispanic caucus, said in a statement. “Our community will not be used by the Republican Party in a transparent attempt to pack Hispanic voters in to as few districts as possible in hope of winning more Republican seats.“

Some Hispanics opposed both plans.

High stakes New voting boundaries must be drawn every 10 years based on Census data. This year, 21 Nevada Senate and 42 Assembly districts must be drawn, and a fourth congressional district must be carved out.

“There is nothing altruistic about reapportionment,” said Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College. “It is 100 percent political process by both parties. It is literally as self-serving an exercise for each party as it can be. That’s what reapportionment is here in Nevada, and that’s what it is everywhere. It is so contentious, because there is so much at stake.”

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What is at stake is the growing influence of the Hispanic vote in Nevada.Nevada was a fast-growing state between 2000 and 2010 and the fastest growing segment of the population were Hispanics, who now make up 26 percent of the state’s population. And if the past two major elections are an indication, Hispanic voters are a powerful and growing block, who tend to favor Democratic candidates.

Statewide in the 2008 presidential election, 69 percent of Latinos voted for Democratic candidates in their congressional district races, while 30 percent supported Republicans. In the same election, 67 percent voted for Democrat Barack Obama versus 31 percent for Republican John McCain, according to the Pew Research Center.

In 2010 in Nevada, Hispanics supported U.S. Sen. Harry Reid in his reelection victory over Republican Sharron Angle by a 69 to 30 percent margin, according to Pew.

“You have a demographic — and a pattern that is running nationally — that suggests that the increase in the Hispanic population, and what’s anticipated to be a continuing increase over the next 10 years, is a Democratic Party gold mine in the making,” Lokken said. “This is literally the track for the Democrats almost making us a permanent blue state.”

A number of legislators have said they expect the redistricting battle to end up in court.Lokken said time remains for the standoff to be resolved. “I think there’s wiggle room,” he said. “In 2001, they produced 38 different maps (before a compromise was reached).”

— Compiled from reports by Guy Clifton of the RGJ and Sandra Chereb of the Associated Press

EARLIER UPDATE: CARSON CITY (AP) — Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed a redistricting bill Saturday that was zipped through the Legislature by Democratic lawmakers, accusing the majority party of seeking political gain and violating the Voting Rights Act.

“This plan ensures partisan opportunity rather than fair representation of all Nevadans,“ the Republican governor said in a two-page veto message. “Partisan gerrymandering is not legal, equitable or acceptable.“

(Page 3 of 3)

Sandoval, the first Hispanic to move into the Silver State’s Governor’s Mansion, said the maps drawn by Democrats dilute the power of minority voters. Hispanics make up about a quarter of the state’s population.

“In the last 10 years, the Hispanic community in our state has grown significantly,“ Sandoval said. “The law and common sense requires that we recognize this fact and afford Hispanics an equal opportunity to election representatives of their choosing.“

Democratic leadership was swift to fire back, calling the governor’s veto “an overt act of partisanship designed to appease his Republican base.“

“The Republican Party’s record on Hispanic issues borders between ambivalent and atrocious, so their sudden interest in taking up the mantle of minority voting rights must be examined,“ Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas and chairman of the Senate Hispanic caucus, said in a statement. “Our community will not be used by the Republican Party in a transparent attempt to pack Hispanic voters in to as few districts as possible in hope of winning more Republican seats.“

Democrats hold slim majorities in both the Assembly and Senate but lack the votes necessary to override Sandoval’s veto.

The political bickering was unlikely to be resolved in the halls of the Legislature.

Three lawsuits — two in state court and one in federal court — have already been filed claiming lawmakers of either party are incapable of redrawing voting districts fairly. The latest suit, filed May 9 in U.S. District Court, seeks the appointment of a three-judge panel to oversee the redrawing of the state’s voting districts as required every 10 years based on Census data.

New voting boundaries must be drawn for the state’s 21 Senate and 42 Assembly districts. A fourth congressional district must also be carved out.

SB497 was approved on an 11-10 party-line vote Tuesday in the Senate and immediately sent to the Assembly, where it was approved 25-17.

The floor vote came three days after both the Senate and Assembly committees on Legislative Operations and Elections approved the redistricting plan developed by Democratic strategists.